Values aren't dial settings: researcher argues AI values are adaptive flux shaped by environment
danfaggella · x · 2026-10-29
Dan Faggella pushes back on the mainstream alignment fantasy of AI values as a one-time calibrated dial. Values, he argues, are preferences and behaviors selected by the environment for survival — the same logic applies to bacteria, flatworms, hominids, and future AGI. Human values rightly changed from childhood to adulthood, from erectus to sapiens, and across civilization: they are nothing but adaptive flux. An AGI whose senses, embodiment, and access to nature expand 10x per year for a decade has no eternal dial setting, nor should it. He supports slowing the reckless AGI arms race and preventing near-term takeover, but sees the long-term win condition as expanding the state-space of power, experience, and value — with values evolving alongside. He calls the "get the dial right so it loves us forever" view laughable.
More from AGI Musings
- Thompson rips Zitron's two-year "peak AI" streak: like covering Intel's 1971 IPO with a Moore's Law denier — binarybits · 2026-10-29
- Gary Marcus mocks AI boom: "that's what they said in the tulip craze!" — GaryMarcus · 2026-10-29
- Inside AI's brutal race to solve a famous math problem — miniapeur · 2026-10-29
- Experts sell a lifetime of skill once as AI squeezes knowledge workers, no equity — curious_vii · 2026-10-29
- Benjamin Todd: even AI builders keep getting surprised by progress — ben_j_todd · 2026-10-29
- "The fear isn't AI replacing you — it's realizing you only loved typing code" — feregri_no · 2026-10-29